The Bodhi Mirror

Introducing the Elder Bhiksu

DHARMA MASTER LING YUAN

      Dharma Master Ling Yuan is a native of Lin Hai county in Chekiang Province, 

China. He was born in 1903 into the Fu family, and studied at the Sixth High School in Chekiang Province.

      Following his graduation he was stricken with an illness, and while he recovered he read and copied out the Surangama Sutra. When he was thirty he traveled to Overflowing Source Temple in Kuo Shan, Fukien, and left home under the Venerable Master and Patriarch Hsu Yun's disciple, the Elder Hung Miao. Following his ordination he traveled to Dharma Realm Academy and drew near the Eider Master Ts'e Chou to study the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Mahayana and Hinayana Vinayas. He graduated in three years, but kept up his studies of the Avatamsaka under the tutelage of the Elder Master Ying Ts'e, concentrating on the translations in forty and sixty roils, and in addition studying the Surangama and Dharma Blossom Sutras.

      In 1939 he made a pilgrimage to Wu T'ai Mountain to pay his respects to the Bodhisattva Manjusri, and remained on the cold mountain studying the Tripitaka for three years. Subsequently he traveled and taught the Sutras until 1947, when he was instructed by the Venerable Hsi Yun to fill the position of Acting Abbot of Nan Hua Monastery.
      As the pressures of civil disorder rose on the mainland, Dharma Master Ling Yuan left for Hong Kong, arriving there in 1950. He took up residence on Ta Yu Mountain. In 1954 he moved to Taiwan and helped raise funds for the construction of Great Awakening in the Ten Directions Temple, and became the Abbot of that temple.
      Dharma Master Ling Yuan is well known as an author and painter. Among his written works are included “Comments on the Mountain Life,” and “Interpretation of the Brahma Net Sutra.” He is especially well known for his paintings of Buddha images.

At the transmission of the Complete Precepts at Hai Hui Temple in Keelung in 1969, Dharma Master Ling Yuan was a certifying Master for the first bhiksus and bhiksunis from America to be ordained in the orthodox Buddhist tradition.

Contributors Who Have Generously Encouraged The Spread of the Good Dharma

Mr. & Mrs. James A. Burns   $10.00

Upasika Kuo Ming Dorney      20.00

Dharma Master Heng Kuan      10.00

Upasika Kuo Shen Mitchell    20.00

Upasika Kuo Jen Wong         20.00

Dharma Master Heng Yin       10.00

Anonymous Dharma Protector  500.00

Anonymous Dharma Protector   50.00